Alloy-coated iron or steel article and method of coating same



J. L. SCHUELER.

ALLOY COATED IRON 0R STEEL ARTICLE AND METHOD OF COATING SAME.

APPLICATION FILED 1ULY15 1916.

Patented Nov. 2, 1920.

Ill: III ll UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JULIAN L. SCHUELER, OF PEORIA, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO KEYSTONE STEEL & WIRE COMPANY. OF PEORIA, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF rumors.

ALLOY-COATED IRON OR STEEL ARTICLE AND METHOD OF COATING SAME.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 2. 1920.

Application filed July 15, 1916. Serial No. 109,556.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, JULIAN L. SoHUELER, a citizen of the United States, residin at Peoria, in the county of Peoria and tate of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Alloy-Coated Ironor Steel Articles and Methods of (outing Same. of-

which the following is a-specification.

This invention has reference to a new and improved method of coating iron or steel wire which is particularly used in the manufacture of barb-wire, fence, and fencefabrics' The invention relates particularly to a protective coating" for iron or's'teel articles, such as iron or steel wire, and wire rods,

- comprising an alloy which is electro-positive to iron and steel.

In-the manufacture of wire-fence-fabrics, from iron or steel Wire, it has been and is now the practice to protect the iron or steel wire, against deterioration by rusting, or corrosion, due to atmos heric conditions, with a coating of zinc. t is a well known fact that'a coating of.zinc for wire woven into fence-fabrics does not last very long, due to the fact, that it is very easily destroyed by corrosion, and that it is somewhat brittle and will not stand very much mechanical workin before the zinc coating is destroyed by fla ing. Furthermore, the use of zinc as a coating is objectionable because of the formation of dross or skimmings in 'the molten bath. Zinc has been used heretofore forv coating, due to the fact that it was the onlymetal available for coating iron or steel articles which was electropositive to iron or steel. There are other metals which are also electro-positive to iron and steel, none of which, however, are commercially available for'the purposes herein mentioned, or else are so easily oxidizable that they can not be maintained in a-.suitable state for the coating desired, viz.sodium, potassium, magnesium and similar metals.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a coating for iron or steel articles such as wire entering into the manufacture of fence-fabrics, which has all the advantages of zinc; that is, which will be electro-positive to iron and steel and yet which will not be as expensive as a zinc coating and which will not deteriorate so quickly, due'to rust or corrosion, and which will be less'brittle than zinc. My invention, therefore, consists in making an alloy of lead, antimony, and zinc in proper proportions.

A further object of the invention is to provide a coating for fence and barb wire, the constituent parts of which are lead, antimony and zinc in the percentages herein claimed, which produces a bath of such fluidity as will permit the wire to be drawn from the molten bath in a vertical direction, thereby dispensing with the usual and necessary wipe employed in spelter baths.

The drawing represents a vertical section of an apparatus and the method of coating a fence wire.

By actual test and experiment I have found that if lead, or lead-antimony is alloyed with a very small percentage or more of zinc, the alloy so obtained is electro-positive to iron and steel.

Lead, antimony, or alead-antimony alloy, are all electro-negative to iron or steel in ordinary solution, but I have found in practice that if any of these metals or alloys contain a small percentage or more of zinc, the said alloys thus formed then become electro-positive to iron and steel. Lead and zinc alone can not be alloyed the two metals separatirig on cooling into two distinct layers. ead, however, will absorb a small percentage of zinc, to the extent of about 1.2%, and zinc on the other hand will absorb a slightly larger percentage of lead. The zinc and antimony make good serviceable alloys but are too hard and not acid and weather resisting enough to have any advantage over pure zinc. Lead, on the other hand, has a distinct advanta e as an acid and a weather resistant, an is therefore more resistant to corrosion, but the lead is too soft to be used alone for coating iron and steel articles; therefore, by adding a small percentage of antimony to the lead, viz.approximately 1% of antimony, the lead then becomes harder and more resistant to acid and weather conditions than pure lead iting without wiping the wire, as in present known methods of covering wire with other metals, such as zinc. Such an alloy coating I find in practice has a low melting point and therefore it may be heated a little hotter, in proportion, relatively to the heat used for spelter and thereby have a greater range in the time for solidification from when it was put on the wire. It therefore follows that the expensive and inconvenient use of wipes maybe done away with and the wire drawn from the bath in a manner to permit the excess coating draining back into the bath.

In practice it is only necessary to use enough antimony to give the lead sufficient hardness so that it will not squeeze off the fence wire when the wire is run through a wire fabricating machine, and to use only sufiicient zinc to give the allow its electropositive characteristic. For material which is not to be subjected to mechanical treatment, such as wire used in fence machines, the percentageof antimony used in the alloy need not be so high.

As as example of the use of the method, reference is made to the coating of wire as follows A bath is formed consisting preferably of the alloy of 91% lead, 1% zinc and 8% antimony. This is melted in an iron receptacle. The wire to be coated is first cleaned in'the usual manner by passing it through a muriatic acid, or some other acid bath and then fluxed in the usual manner by passing it through a solution of zinc chlorid. From the zinc chlorid the wire passes directly into the molten bath, of lead, zinc and antimony, and emerges therefrom with a coating of such alloy. The wire instead of being drawn memo-z in a horizontal manner from the bath is elevated in a vertical position to a suitable height and then downward again to the reels upon which it is coiled, from which it is removed for further disposal. With this method of removing the Wire from the bath I am able to dispense with the usual method of wiping the wire, as stated, in order to prevent a thick or uneven coating.

The attached drawing illustrates the method of coating wire and removing the same from the bath in a vertical direction.

In this drawing 1 designates a inuriatic acid bath, in which the wire is cleaned; 2 designates a fluxing bath comprising a solution of zinc chlorid, and 3 designates the molten bath, of lead, zinc and antimony. The wire upon leaving the molten bath moves in a vertical direction, as shown, and then downwardly to a reel 4 upon which the same is wound. I am not concerned in the details of construction of the apparatus, nor how the same is heated, nor the construction of the reels, as these are of usual form, but I am concerned in the character and makeup of the molten bath and the drawing of the wire from the bath in a vertical direction so as to dispense with the usual method of wiping the wire in order to prevent a thick or uneven coating,

What I claim is The method of coating iron or steel wire, which consists in introducing the wire into a molten bath, consisting of-91% lead, 8% antimony and 1% zinc, and removing the wire from the bath in a vertical direction, without wiping, the excess metal on the wire draining back into the bath.

JULIAN L. SCHUELER. 

